


Petition

by amireal



Series: Ground Control to Major Phil [1]
Category: Marvel 616, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Phil Coulson Astronaut!, The author can't believe she's writing this, love of NASA depsite their mistakes, the cut off of funding for the apollo program was BS
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-16
Updated: 2015-11-16
Packaged: 2018-05-02 00:28:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5226923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amireal/pseuds/amireal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Once upon a time, Phil Coulson was almost an astronaut.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Petition

**Author's Note:**

> This probably is going to be a series of shorter scenes rather than one long story. I don't have the time to put brain power to a longer, cohesive story. (She says now, but wait, I'm betting my brain objects to this.) I'm putting it up as a series instead of a single story WIP. I don't INTEND to do anything mean like give you a cliff hanger, but god knows.

## Part 1 - The Petition

I hate all of you. (The dates are a bit odd and I know there was no Apollo 20, but this is still technically Marvel so I assume that with all the super heroes and stuff, NASA’s funding stayed up there.)  


********

Nick Fury was waiting for him. That was never a good sign. Phil sighed and shut the door to his office.

“Apparently,” Nick used one finger to turn the monitor he was looking at in Phil’s direction, “there’s a petition.”

He took in Nick’s casual lean in _Phil’s_ office chair (damnit) and decided to fuck all pretenses of formality. It had been a long week and the last thing he needed was some hair brained scheme thought up by bored agents. So instead Phil flopped down on the couch in the corner of his office and loosened his tie. “If this is about electing me Spy Union Foreman?”

Nick chuckled and shook his head. “No Phil, I can safely say this has absolutely nothing at all to do with SHIELD.”

And now Phil was intrigued, damnit. Last time Nick fed him a line like that he got suckered in playing FBI Counter Intelligence Task Force leader for 6 months. Never again. But he wasn’t looking at Nick’s Serious Mission Face. This was more Nick’s... well, he’d never seen this one before.

“Look at the damn petition, Phil.”

So Phil hauled himself back upright and focused on the top of the page. Then he paused and read it again. And then a third time. “I don’t...” he paused, needing to catch his breath. “I don’t unerstand.”

“Keep reading,” Nick said gently. “We did some digging. Between the ending of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and the Supreme Court Decisions about marriage and NASA getting that huge public win and then funding windfall and someone in some nerdy corner of the internet remembered your story.”

Phil snorted, the bitter taste of that day 20 years ago still stuck in his throat. He’d been so close to getting it. So close to touching the sky. He’d been one of the youngest in the last Apollo trainee batch. But the competition had been fierce and someone hadn’t liked coming in second. And instead of standing up at a press conference as part of the Apollo 20 Lunar Module Pilot, he’d been quietly ushered out the door, grateful to be taking an honorable discharge instead of having to plead guilty to violating the uniform code of conduct.

To plead guilty for one night. The one night he’d allowed for himself since NASA had taken him on. Fucking Garrett and his inferiority complex, having to take people down instead of-- well it was over. Had been for 20 years. Or so he thought.

“They want me to...” Phil’s throat closed up. Too much emotion, even after all that time.

“I got a call,” Nick nodded. “NASA Melinda May is in charge over there now and she says she’d like to correct one of her biggest regrets. She didn’t have the power then, but she does now.”

Phil sad down again, his knees had gone quite rubbery. “They want me to...” He dropped off again, unable to finish the sentence. “But what about SHIELD?” Because it was insane, he loved his life, his job. He’d found another place to call home and it hadn’t felt at all like second best, even that first week.

Nick leaned in, putting his knees on his elbows, his face going soft and kind in a way that Phil had almost never seen. “It’s up to you. I won’t stop you. And when you’re done, we’ll find a way for you to come back, if you want to.”

“Even though--”

“Even though your face will have been plastered all over the world. Your cover career story is solid and we’d short it up some more before the scrutiny started.”Nick reached out and squeezed Phil’s arm. “Not everyone gets a shot at this and frankly... May makes a good argument about publicity and has a thing about owing someone. Apparently she’s allergic to it.”

Phil barked out a laugh. “That she is.”

“I’ll leave you to it,” Nick said, standing to leave. “Don’t think you owe me anything sort of consideration.” he said before opening the door. “They want you to go to the _moon_ , Cheese, they want you to be an _inspiration_. Don’t walk away from that for some theoretical obligations. Walk away from it because that’s what you want.”

Phil nodded, mind still whirling. “Understood.”

Nick finally opened the door and headed out, but that didn’t stop him from tossing one more comment over his shoulder. “And the puns just write them self on this one! That’s gotta be a reason all on its own.”  



End file.
